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Smoking is associated with risk of schizophrenia

Smoking is associated with risk of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia occurs when an individual presents certain genetic variants that favor mental disorder, leading to hallucinations and delusions that can determine their actions for the rest of their lives. According to a study published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), smoking can further aggravate these symptoms and make the disease manifest more intensely.

Developed by the University Hospital of Psychiatry in Zurich, Switzerland, the study evaluated 1,821 healthy volunteers in order to find variations in the TCF4 gene, a protein with an important role in brain formation and whose mutations are responsible for increasing the risk of schizophrenia. the volunteers with the risk variants of the TCF4 gene, smokers had greater deficits in information processing. Deficits were significant for both light and heavy smokers.

According to the researchers, smoking may be associated with mutations in TCF4, which plays an important role in the development of information processing losses related to schizophrenia. They claim that smoking should be considered as an important cofactor for the risk of schizophrenia in future research and medical diagnostics.

Seven reasons to quit smoking already!

Reasons to quench smoking from your routine . The World Health Organization (WHO) said that tobacco will kill no less than six million people in 2011 alone, with 600,000 passive smokers. If those numbers continue to increase, the estimate is that by 2030, eight million people die each year because of that bad habit. The tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people in the 20th century, as there are more than 50 diseases related to this habit but could be avoided. Check out seven of the numerous smoking ailments:

Smell and taste reduction

Smoking causes serious changes in the mouth and nose. "The chemical agents present in the cigarette act as irritants to the buccal mucosa, which dries out and increases the keratin layer," explains Thais Souza, a nutritionist at the Mundo Verde Network. She explains that smoking promotes changes in the taste buds, which prevents the smoker from feeling the real taste of food. In addition, cigarette smoking is harmful to the olfactory mucosa, since its thermal effect can lead to lesions that alter smell.

Gastrointestinal disorders

Digestion is already impaired due to changes in the taste. To complete the disaster, nicotine in the digestive system causes decreased contraction of the stomach and causes irritation. Continuous use of the cigarette weakens the muscle that prevents reflux, which increases the contact of gastric acid with the esophageal mucosa.

Wrinkles and Aging Skin

In addition to yellowing teeth and bad breath, the skin tends to age faster in smokers. "There are some studies done with twins, in which only one had a habit of smoking, which proved that the smoker could look up to eight years older than his brother," says plastic surgeon Gerson Luiz Julio. the skin decreases the production of collagen and loses luster and elasticity. According to Gerson, the premature appearance of wrinkles is also likely, which leaves the skin looking brownish or yellowish. "Another characteristic that smokers normally expose on the face are the popular blemishes."

Vision problems

The eye doctor Virgilio Centurion, director of the Institute of Ocular Diseases, says that the harmful effects of smoking are also associated with falling eyelids. "This can lead to a decrease in the visual field and the appearance of Graves' ophthalmopathy, a condition that presents as symptoms palpebral retraction, eyelid edema, tearing, photophobia, foreign body sensation, among others."Alteration of gene functions

Exposure to cigarette smoke alters cell formation due to impaired function of some genes, according to a study by the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in the United States. The researchers analyzed 1,200 people and identified 323 genes that change when it comes to translating genetic information into cell functions because of cigarette smoke. These changes have a major negative influence on the immune system and a strong involvement in the process of cell death and cancer development.

Neurological diseases

Scientists at the National Brain Research Center in India have discovered a direct link between smoking and brain damage. A cigarette compound, called NNK, triggers an exaggerated response of the brain from immune cells in the central nervous system.

White blood cells, which normally kill damaged cells, begin to attack healthy cells, resulting in severe neurological damage. According to the researchers, the substance is considered pro-carcinogenic, which means it can cause cancer when it is modified by metabolic processes in the body, in addition to triggering disorders such as multiple sclerosis.

Heart Problems

The Complication cardiovascular effects of cigarette smoking even affects the passive smoker. Researchers at the Department of Cardiology at Erasme Hospital and the

Univesité Libre de Bruxelles

in Belgium have found that breathing cigarette substances affects several functions of the arterial vascular system - and even when there is no more smoke in the air.

Smoking - both active and passive - causes elasticity of the vascular system. The president of the Brazilian Society of Hypertension, Fernando Nobre, warns: "This elasticity damages the maintenance of healthy blood pressure, and can also lead to other problems, such as stroke."


Research links Zika to ocular problems in infants

Research links Zika to ocular problems in infants

Agência Brasil - A study of 40 children born in Pernambuco, whose mothers were infected by the Zika virus, found that there is a relationship between virus infection and severe eye disorders drink. The research, coordinated by physicians Rubens Belfort Júnior and Maurício Maia, with the participation of scientists from the Altino Ventura Foundation, Recife, showed that of the 40 children analyzed and who had microcephaly, almost half (46% of the total) had a disorder or injury in the eye fundus.

(Health)

Male infertility has little relation with tight underwear or cell phone pocket

Male infertility has little relation with tight underwear or cell phone pocket

Marital infertility is always a delicate issue due to the emotional problems that plague this situation. And not all men are prepared to even think that the problem can be with them, not the wife. It is not uncommon to find a couple where the husband is only willing to look for a urologist after the wife has undergone several examinations, and no pathology has been diagnosed that prevents them from conceiving.

(Health)